SIM-LAB Race Director Software User Manual

SIM-LAB Race Director Software

BEFORE YOU START

Thank you for choosing Race Director!

We at SimLab like to offer you an accessible way to configure and use your favorite SimLab, GRID or GRID by SimLab hardware.

Race Director takes the mission statement above and allows you to basically plug and play. Options vary depending on hardware but all in all, there will be enough to get you going on track without missing out on functionality. We feel all basics are covered and are clearly labeled and easy to understand.

They way we handle LEDs will enable you to access functionality in a refreshing way while keeping it easy to configure.

Our dashes are updated or added to regularly, depending on popular demand or updated functionality.

All of this we try to offer in a simple visual style so you don’t have to edit files or wade through pages and pages of options. We could, but we don’t, in trying to keep this user experience simple and quick. The less time spent in our software to get what you need out of it, the better.

Because of the above, possibilities are limited for the sake of usability. If you want to go all out on every possible option there is to exist in the sim of your choosing, feel free to use Simhub (www.simhubdash.com).

Also, be warned. If you are relying on your data, dash or wheel settings to win that important race you have coming up, remember the beta part of this release. We are not responsible for a lost podium finish 😉

Download and installation

Download the las test version of Race Director from http://www.sim-lab.eu /srd-setup

At the moment of the writing the latest version is V1.0.0 Updates, additions and/or bugfixes will occur when requested by the community. This is not only on a software level but also will be reflected in the way of available profiles and dashes.

Due to the nature of some fixes or possible changes this manual may slightly differ from what you see on screen. We try and keep this manual up to date as much as we can, following developments.

Installation

Unzip the downloaded file ‘RaceDirector.zip’ and extract the folder to a location of your choice, run the installer to start the installation.

if you encounter a Windows Defender/Smart Control screen warning you of only software of trusted sources, please press ‘Run anyway’. This warning will disappear when more and more people start busing Race Director and the software has been proven safe for use.

Press ‘Next’.

Specify the location where to install the software:

Press ‘Next’.

Make sure all options are checked:

Press ‘Install’.

Race DIrector will be installed:

Press ‘Finish’.

First start

The very first time launching Race Director, you will probably be greeted with an empty screen and booting might also take a bit longer than you would expect.

Don’t worry, this is normal, some additional files might be downloaded/updated. To keep things visually clear and clutter free, we only want to show the options you actually need.

RaceDirector only works with Sim-Lab, GRID or GRID by Sim-Lab hardware. This hardware needs to be activated or enabled on the ‘Settings’ (1) page.

For the remainder or this manual, we will use the same hardware to showcase functionality. All functionality transfers over to different hardware very much the same but obviously not every piece of hardware we offer has the same feature set.

We are going to use the Porsche 911 RSR Steering Wheel in all of our examples. Simply tick the ‘Activate’ tuckbox (2) and its icon (3) should appear on the left side of the screen. Selecting the icon (3) will take us to its device pages.

Depending on your hardware, the layout will look similar. The menu layout is basically divided in 3 major elements:

1. Device pages, these may vary or will not be visible, depending on hardware.
2. Visual representation of hardware, contents depending on device page.
3. Options, depending on device page

There are a few exceptions to these major layout areas which are the ‘Firmware’ device page and the options for LEDs which is a pop-up window. We will delve in that at a later time.

Not every hardware may show the same device pages and options, depending on its features. The reason we are using the Porsche 911 RSR Steering Wheel is because it is the most feature rich of all of the supported hardware at the moment of writing.

This page also lets you test all inputs, each button press or encoder rotation will be visually shown.

Device pages

We will go over each device page in order, explaining their contents per page.

Controller (A)

This device page focusses more on the mechanical part of controlling the hardware.  Seeing the options mentioned, it is probably clear this page has more to do with wheels than dashes for example.

On the left is the ‘Visual Representation’ (1) of the wheel, included is a ‘Status indicator’ (2) and the ‘Clutch indicator(s)’ (3) which show the clutch input. The clutch indicator will be a single or double one, or hidden, depending on your clutch settings.

The right side of the screen contains some options, at his moment they all have to do with the clutches. Although clutch options can be controlled hardware wise through the wheel entirely, we also offer the possibility to configure the clutch through software as well. The various ‘Clutch modes’ (4) can be selected as would be done on the wheel.

One option which is easier done through software than on the actual wheel is precisely dialing a bitepoint for the clutch in ‘Bite point mode’. In the input field next to ‘Set bitepoint percentage’ (5) you are able to specify a bitepoint from 0-100% and this is even possbile in the tenths. Let’s just say you you want to enter a percentage of 45.6% in there, you are able to.

Display (B)

Almost all of the options found here speak for themselves, though for the sake of being complete, we will go over them on by one.

•  ‘Select dash’ (1)This allows you to select a standard dash for a given car. We do not support all cars in every sim. The chosen dash will also be visually shown on left on the visual representation of the hardware.

• ‘Select display’ (2)
  This will make sure the chosen dash is rendered on the correct screen. When you are not sure which display to select, press ‘Identify screen’ (8) to help identifying which display is which. If a single vocore screen has been connected, this will be automatically selected.

• ‘Record trackmap’ (3)
  This will allow you to record a trackmap of the track you are driving. This will be used by dashes which have a GPS page where you can track the positions of drivers on track. When no data has been recorded, the track will be rendered as a simple sphere. Stop short of start/ finish on track, tick the tickbox and drive a lap in the middle of the track with a constant speed. After start/finish the record function is automatically disabled, the track will display as recorded on the appropriate pages.

• AVG fuel laps’ (4)
  This value determines how many laps are used to calculate average fuel usage. The average is reset every time you enter the pits to keep the average a fair number.

• ‘Low fuel amount’ (5)
  This number (in liters) will be used for the dash to know when to acticate the ‘Low Fuel’ alarm or warning.

• ‘Next page’ (6)
  Cycle to the next page of the loaded dash. Select a controller of your choice, press ‘Select button’ and you have about 10 seconds to press the appropriate button you want to use.

• ‘Previous page’ (7)
  Cycle to the previous page of the loaded dash, works like described above.

Note: when the page controls are configured, they won’t affect a dashboard unless a sim is running.

LEDs (C)

This will be explained in two parts, first we will go over the options found on the right side of the screen.

• ‘LED profile name’ (1)
  This serves two purposes in one. Firstly the name of the loaded profile is noted to verify that the profile has been loaded. Secondly the name is used when saving the profile.

• ‘Save profile’ (2)
  When you want to save an excisting profile, press this button. You will be warned that the profile is an excisting profile, thus overwriting it will change it from the default settings. Alternatively, once the profile name (see above) has been changed, that name will be used as a new profile.

• ‘Load profile’ (3)
  This loads the selected profile in the drop down menu.

• ‘Test LEDs’ (4)
  This opens up a pop-up window where you use test input to see what the LEDs do using the currently loaded profile.

• ‘Redline flash color’ (5)
  You can pick the color when you reach the redline or optimal shift point. Right now this is preset at a standard 95%. (beta)

• Brightness’ (6)
  This slider changes the brightness for all LEDs on the wheel.

When we take a look at the visual representation of our hardware though, comparing it to the prevous page (Display) some colors have been added.

Clicking on any LED/color brings up the LED setup window. We’re looking at this horizontally. From left to right the function number (1), the function (2), the function input/option (3), color (4) and state (5) (default is static).

There is also the possibility to ‘Take settings’ (6) from an LED you configured earlier.

Here are some basic rules:

• Each LED can have up to 3 functions with different behaviors.
• Functions are stacked where Function 3 is lowest and Function 1 is highest in priority.
• Any LED with an ‘alwaysOn’ behavior should be used with ‘Function 3’ in case of multiple functions on one LED.
• The visual representation of the wheel prefers to show functions which feature an ‘alwaysOn’. If it doesn’t find an ‘alwaysOn’, it will display the first non-black color.

You can see very quickly how the settings behave, just by looking at an existing profile. One thing to note is that it is good to know what is expected of you with some functions. After providing that information, we will go through some examples:

• alwaysOn
  This function is always active, unless another function temporarily overrides it.

• carWarning
  This is currently only a low fuel warning. This will be expanded later.

• drs
  This has multiple options which you can divide over multiple LEDs are all use in a single one. Upcoming, available and on are the three stages of this function.

• flag
  This function will be executed while a flag is waved.

• pitLimit
  This function will be executed while the pit limiter is active.

• revBar
  This function is your typical way of controlling RPM LEDs. A percentage is given per LED.

• spotter
  Depending on your sim you can light up LEDs depending on the position of an opponent.

Following are some examples to show the functions and how they stack up. Although we intend for Race Director to offer a basic feature set, this is still quite complete and allows you to setup your wheel or dash to your liking.

One thing to keep in mind, the ‘alwaysOn’ function is intended for use with buttons and encoders. Therefore this option has been omitted from dashboard LED options.

Example #1

This one is easy. This LED will always show a static, green LED. It really doesn’t matter in which function you place the ‘alwaysOn’ in this case, as there are no other function fighting for priority.

Example #2

As shown above, the ‘alwaysOn’ moved to ‘Function 2’. While the spotter is active, ‘Function 1’ will be shown.

When ‘Function 1’ is not shown, ‘Function 2’ will be shown.

Example #3

A bit more complex than the last one but when you break it down, it makes sense as a prioritised stack. Here we go:

While the flag is being waved/shown, ‘Function 1’ is shown, even if a car is next to you at that moment, as ‘Function 1’ takes priority over ‘Function 2’.

If the flag is not being waved/sown anymore and while there is a car next to you on the right side, ‘Function 2’ will be shown.

In the case that neither ‘Function 2’ or ‘Function 1’ are shown, the ‘alwaysOn’ from ‘Function 3’ is shown.

We did it this way to be able to prioritise flags over other sorts of input.

Clear from the last example is that we’re looking at a stack of prioritised functions. Essentially, each functions does what it says it does. If for example you have an ‘alwaysOn’ in ‘Function 1’, you can fill up Function 2 and 3 however you like, these will be never be shown due to the top priority given to the ‘alwaysOn’ function.

Firmware (D)

On this page you can see the current firmware loaded on the wheel. If it is needed to updated, this is done through this page.

Press ‘Reset in BootLoader mode’ (1). This will reboot your wheel in this case. When it has rebooted, an explorer window will pop up, like the wheel has temporarily turned into a large USB drive.

Download the latest firmware (hex file) from either our Discord or the GRID Engineering website. Simply drag the downloaded hex file into the window like above.
The file will transfered to wheel, installed and the wheel will reboot. The explorer window will be closed automatically.

Note:

do NOT upload firmware you have NOT received from GRID, Sim-Lab or GRID by Sim-Lab official sources. You risk bricking your device.

Dashboards

As we don’t only offer wheels, a quick word on dashboards. These are a fair bit simpler than our wheel offerings so we chose to combine all functionality into one page. All functionality supported is very or completely similar to what can be found on the wheel device pages.

The only immediate difference is that the ‘alwaysOn’ function in the LED settings, are not supported for dashes at this moment.

Another difference is compatiblity. Out of the box these products are flashed for use with SimHub since Race Director is in such (relative) early stages of development.

To switch your dash to working with Race Director instead of Simhub, we have added a ‘Flash device’ (1) button to allow this.

Press the ‘Flash device’ (1) button to make the device ready to be controlled by Race Director.

After flashing the device for Race Director, the ‘Flash device’ (1) button will turn grey and will read ‘Firmware’. This means you can still use the button to flash your device to work with Simhub if you want to.

Flash device

A quick look at the first page of this menu gives the user the choice to flash a dash for use with either Race Director or Simhub.

The top option, ‘Used COM port’ (1) indentifies which device to flash. If only 1 Arduino based device with a specific ID has been connected, Race Director will automatically select that port.

In case you have multiple Arduino based pieces of hardware and/or dashboards connected, we suggest to follow these steps:

• Close Race Director.
• Disconnect all devices you do NOT want to flash for use with different software other than supported out of the box.
• Start Race Director.
• Check the ‘Used COM port:’ (1) drop down for other entries. Ideally, only 1 would show up due to the process of elimination.
• Choose either to flash for use with ‘Race Director’ (2) or ‘Simhub’ (3)

You will be prompted to make sure you don’t accidentally have selected the wrong option or COM port. Make sure to double check the selected COM port and firmware. In case this all checks out, press ‘Yes’ (4)

The flashing is taking place when you see this screen. Please follow the instructions on screen and simply wait for the process to finish.

Pedals/Handbrake

For our pedals and handbrake, we included functionality which might need some explanation. We wanted to offer the ability to adjust, save and load input curves from the start. When looking at a typical device page, this is what the handbrake page looks like.

Calibration

• Press ‘Start calibration’ (1) for the device to enter calibration mode.
• Pull the handbrake towards you with a force you feel should be the absolute maximum you like to use. Of course you can do this multiple times until the calibration is just right for you. – Press ‘Stop calibration’ (2) for the device to exit calibration mode.

Graph

This is where most of the device page for these type revolves around. The curve in the graph can be adjusted to your liking by manipulating 5 points. The first and last point are controlled by adjusting the deadzones (4,5). The middle three can be manipulated by clicking and dragging to really dial in your input.

As a means of providing a starting point, we provide some presets (7) which are Linear, Aggressive, Progressive.

Deadzones

As mentioned, the first and last point on the curve in the graph(3) are controlled by deadzones (4,5).

We suggest to always dial in some bottom deadzone (5) to avoid jitter at rest. This can be as low as 2-3% to ensure you are not definately not dragging your brakes or jitter influences your input.

On the top deadzone (4) you can slightly tweak your calibration if you feel for a certain car you would like a bit less force for example but want to keep your overall calibration as is.

An additional function of the linear preset (7) is that it doubles as a straighten tool to straighten your curve after you have applied some form of deadzone.

Profiles

If you have very particular settings for a certain car or circumstance you can save and load graph profiles.

The ‘Curve profile name’ field doubles as showing the name of the currently loaded profile and as the way to name a new profile. This way can you create new profiles without overwriting the default or loaded one.

Backup

All profiles for LEDs are stored locally. For each profile you save, a *.JSON file with the name of the profile is stored in the Race Director/Settings folder.

Since at the moment of writing Race Director is a beta, we expect regular updates. Some updates might need you to delete the settings folder entirely or overwrite existing included profiles to make sure the update process is handled without errors.

For that reason, we suggest to backup your favorite settings and/or LED profiles just in case. At this moment this is a manual process, we might include something more user friendly in future updates.

Supported sims

As we just started out developing our own software, our supported sims list is limited for now. This list is ordered in our level of suppport, where we iRacing offers the most functionality, Assetto Corsa the least. We will strive to continually update compatibility and functionality with your favorite software. As most things with Race Director, you guessed it, we love to hear from the community.

• iRacing
• rFactor2
• Assetto Corsa

Some notes per sim.

iRacing

After installation of Race Director, it is ready to go.

rFactor2

After installation of Race Director, the Race Director plugin needs to be enabled.

Go to your settings menu, in the bottom right section, enable the ‘SRDRF264.dll’ (1) plugin.

Assetto Corsa

After installation of Race Director, the Race Director plugin needs to be enabled.

Go to your settings menu, in the bottom right section, enable the ‘SRD’ (2) plugin.

More information

Race Director is our very first venture into the software domain. We appreciate all the input you will have probably have and will continue to make this software more user friendly and feature complete.

Feedback is appreciated so we know what you would like to see improved or added. At this moment we only have a limited selection of features.

To report bugs we have a bot on our discord server which will request basic information. Please supply clear information and include the steps to be able to reproduce a bug for us to be able replicate the result. This way it is quicker/easier for us to identify and fix.

If you still have some questions regarding Race Director or about the manual itself, please refer to our support department. They can be reached at:

Customer Support

www.grid-engineering.com/discord

References

• GRID
• sim-lab.eu/srd-setup
• SimHub, DIY Sim Racing Dash and Hardware – Bring Your Sim Racing Rig To Life

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